Conventional airliner and cargo aircraft are configured as high or low wing aircraft. The wings are positioned above or below the passenger or cargo compartment within the fuselage. The wings are attached to the fuselage through a wing structural box. The fuselage is attached at the top or bottom to the wing structural box depending on whether the aircraft is configured as a high-wing or low-wing aircraft. This wing structural box is typically very heavy since it needs to be substantial enough to bear a large portion of the wing loads and support the fuselage.
Conventional USB flap installation for powered-lift aircraft includes installing the engines far forward so that the engine exhaust plumes exit the engine nozzle far forward on the wing close to the leading edge. In doing so, the exhaust plumes travel a long distance over the top surface of the wing prior to arriving at the wing flaps, giving room for the exhaust plumes to spread out laterally for increased coverage over the flap surfaces. Devices such as turning vanes and fixed geometry sloped nozzle ceilings have been used to promote spreading of the exhaust plumes. However, these devices create undesirable drag that decreases flight efficiency.
Specifically, fixed geometry nozzles with downward sloping ceilings induce boat-tail drag due to the formation of low-pressure regions and/or separation of airflow over the top surface of the nozzle exit where the nozzle ceiling slopes downward toward the top of the wing. Moreover, spreading the exhaust flow over the top surface of the wing creates a scrubbing drag from the contact of the high-speed exhaust gas flow with the wing surface. Finally, in addition to the excessive drag issues with conventional USB powered-lift aircraft, the long distances from the nozzle exit to the flap surfaces used to spread the exhaust flow in conventional USB powered-lift aircraft is not available with aircraft that utilize internally mounted engines.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the disclosure made herein is presented.